US created ISIS, is transferring it into Afghanistan: Iran Leader

Leader of Islamic Republic of Iran Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei condemned ISIS terror attacks in Afghanistan, saying the US has been relocating the terror group from the West Asia to the South Asian country to justify its military presence in the region.

By transferring the ISIS terror group from Iraq and Syria to Afghanistan, the US seeks “to justify the continuation of its presence in the region and to create security for the Zionist regime,” Ayatollah Khamenei said on Tuesday.

The US and its allies invaded Afghanistan under the guise of the war on terror. Some 17 years on, the local Taliban militant group has only boosted its campaign of violence across the country, targeting both civilians and security forces in bloody assaults.

More recently, ISIS has also taken advantage of the chaos and established a foothold in eastern and northern Afghanistan. The Takfiri outfit has also stepped up its terror attacks in the war-torn country despite the presence of thousands of foreign troops there.

Touching on the massacre of hundreds of people at the hands of ISIS terrorists in Afghanistan in recent months, the Leader stated, “The same hands that created ISIS as a tool to oppress people in Syria and Iraq and carry out crimes against them are today seeking to transfer ISIS to Afghanistan after its defeats there.”

The recent killings in Afghanistan, the Leader, said represent an early stage in such a scheme.

“To the US-backed terrorists, Shiite and Sunni [Muslims] are no different, and civilians, including Shiites and Sunnis, are their target,” Ayatollah Khamenei added.

Ayatollah Khamenei described the Americans “as the main source of insecurity in Afghanistan,” adding that Washington’s proxies have been directly or indirectly involved in the killings perpetrated in the country over the past 20 years in the name of religion.

The Americans, he said, want to advance their own political and economic agendas through destabilizing Afghanistan.

The US also seeks to keep regional governments and nations busy with their own issues so they could not think of countering Zionism, the Leader emphasized.